Study Reveals How CBD Can Help People Quit Cigarettes

New research out of Britain reveals that marijuana maintain a chemical that can help fight cigarette addiction. Researchers at the University College London published an article last month in the journal Addictive Behaviors that found that a non-psychoactive chemical in marijuana, cannabidiol (CBD), given via inhaler could significantly reduce the number of cigarettes consumed by smokers that wanted to quit.

The Study – One way could be how CBD affects memories, or cues, that hold the desire to smoke. “We found that CBD seems to reduce the salience of cues. It also can reduce anxiety and may affect a memory process called ‘reconsolidation,’ which is where when a memory of the reward of smoking is re-activated by seeing someone smoking, it is rendered vulnerable to destruction.”

While previous research suggests that CBD can help with a variety of drug addictions, the study was the first to investigate the effect of CBD on cigarette addiction in humans. 24 smokers were recruited and split into two groups, receiving inhalers containing CBD or placebo. Both groups were told to use the inhalers whenever they felt the urge to smoke during a one week period.

The Results – The researchers found that while the placebo group showed no difference in their smoking habits, the group that received CBD reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked by 40% on average.

Although treatments for cigarette addiction are available today, researchers are still searching for more effective alternatives. CBD seems to be a promising candidate, but Dr. Morgan says it’s hard to draw a direct comparison with other therapies based on the results of her study.

“This (40%) was more than expected. However, it is difficult to compare to other smoking cessation therapies as we did not ask people to stop smoking, simply to try using the inhaler when they wanted a cigarette.”

The authors suggest that larger studies are needed to confirm the findings. Dr. Morgan says she is also conducting research on CBD as an aid for quitting marijuana.